Prod vs Staging Config Drift
TL;DR: Most "it only breaks in prod" incidents come from small configuration differences between environments, not code changes.
Why Environments Drift
Over time, configuration for staging and production diverges:
- Hotfixes applied directly in prod but not backported
- Feature flags toggled in one environment only
- Secrets rotated on one side and not the other
- Different defaults in
values.yamlorappsettings.json
Typical Drift Symptoms
Common "valid but broken" scenarios include:
- Staging connects to a mock service, prod points at a real one with different behavior
- Logging is verbose in staging but almost silent in prod
- Queued workloads use different topics, queues, or connection strings
How Config Diff Inspector Helps
The Config Diff Inspector is built specifically for prod/staging drift:
- Flattening nested JSON, YAML, and env files into comparable key paths
- Highlighting missing keys in either environment
- Flagging type mismatches and critical value changes
Start Investigating Drift
Paste prod and staging configs into the Config Diff Inspector to see exactly where they diverge.